(AC) - A Disclosure of the Hidden Treasures of Heaven Contained in the Holy Scripture or Word of the Lord, Together with Amazing Things Seen in the World of Spirits and in the Heaven of Angels

4731. And Reuben heard. That this signifies the confession of the faith of the church in general, is evident from the representation of Reuben, as being faith in the understanding or doctrine, which is the first thing of regeneration-the complex the truth of doctrine by which the good of life can be attained (n. 3861, 3866); and here therefore the confession of the faith of the church in general. That Reuben here interposes is because the church which begins from faith would cease to be a church unless this Divine truth remained in it - that the Lord's Human is Divine, for this is the supreme or inmost truth of the church. For this reason Reuben wished to rescue Joseph, by whom this truth is here represented, out of the hand of his brethren, to restore him to his father-by which is signified that it wished to claim this truth for the church. Moreover, when Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he rent his clothes and said to his brethren, "The child is not, and I, whither do I come?" (verses 29, 30) by which is signified that there was no longer any faith in the Lord, and thus no church. [2] This supreme or inmost truth, that the Lord's Human is Divine, is denied by those in the church who are in faith alone; and yet because they know from the Word that in the Lord there is the Divine, and do not apprehend how the Human can be Divine, they therefore attribute both to the Lord, making a distinction between His Divine nature and His Human nature. Those however who are in a life of faith, or in charity, adore the Lord as their God and Savior; and when in adoration, they think of the Lord's Divine without separating it from the Human, and thus at heart acknowledge all in the Lord to be Divine. But when they think from doctrine, because they likewise cannot comprehend how the Human can be Divine, they speak according to their doctrine.